First Weekend Pass
by Rita Arabella Black
Summary: Harry has just spent his first grueling month at Auror training and is looking forward to spending a quiet weekend with Ginny. This is for Professor Flitwick's Challenge of the Day "Alarm".


**A/N: This is for Professor Flitwick's Daily Challenge. The prompt is ALARM. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Really silly.-Rita.**

First Weekend Pass

He felt like he could have slept for a week; it was his first weekend off from Auror training and he although he'd made plans to spend the weekend with Ginny, he kept hitting his snooze alarm, unable to leave the comforts of his delightfully soft bed.

"Five more minutes," he mumbled to himself. "I'll be up in a minute."

Harry was talking to his alarm clock; there was nobody else in his room. Ron had gone to the Burrow after Friday's night class, but Harry decided to stay in town that evening. He wanted to look at engagement rings and surprise her by proposing. Marriage was years away, but with Ginny and Harry, it was always a matter of "when" not "if" they'd marry.

Auror training was the hardest thing Harry had even endured. Participating in the TriWizard Tournament was a stroll in a shady park compared to this. So what if Harry _had_ defeated the evilest wizard in the world; he still had three years of training by instructors who were less than impressed with him. Everyone was on equal footing, he was told. You're all a bunch of babies, the senior drill auror told them. We're going to turn you sissies into real fighters.

"You fought Voldemort? Well la-dee-dah. Aren't we special?" the senior drill auror told him on his first day of training.

"No, sir," he said, sincerely. "I'm here to learn."

"You're just another trainee, Potter. Don't forget that."

Harry shook his head violently. "No, sir."

Deep down, Harry thought he might have been given some slack. After all, he thought, I killed Voldemort, but his trainers weren't having any of it. He was just a candidate-in-training like the rest of them. He and Ron doubted their decision to become aurors after that first day. But after a month of non-stop drills, grills, and physical training, they decided that there must be a reason for the abuse. Day after day more wizards who'd had high hopes of becoming aurors were dropping out like flies. The class started with 57 and the first week, the size had dwindled to 40. By the third week there were only 20 candidates left.

On the Friday night of the fourth week, 12 candidates remained. Now, they were told, they could begin training. First weekend off and each of the twelve had made plans. Most were going to spend time with their families. A couple of the more ambitious candidates were planning more physical training while some of the smarter ones were going to spend time in the library studying for the first Auror history exam. If they didn't pass this exam, they wouldn't be granted another weekend off for six weeks.

Ron had made plans to spend the weekend with his family and was hoping that Hermione would join him at the Burrow. Harry, of course, was always welcome there, but Molly and Arthur were slightly more conservative now that he was dating their only daughter.

"I promise, I'm up," he said to the buzzing alarm clock. "Ten more minutes," he said, rolling over as he pulled the covers tighter.

After the tenth alarm, Harry sleepily fumbled for his wand and shot a silencing spell at his clock. The clock teetered and fell over on its side. "There," he said and he opened his mouth and began to snore.

It was dawn when he finally woke up and rolled out of bed. He yawned and stretched, rubbing his head as he stood up.

"Bout time you got up," a voice behind him said. "You've got ten minutes to get dressed."

He smiled at his friend, Ron. "Good morning," he yawned again. "Did you change your mind about helping me find the ring?" he asked.

Ron laughed and shook his head. "You're too late for that, Harry. It's Monday; we have to get to class. What happened? Did you sleep all weekend?"

"What? Are you joking? It can't possibly be Monday," he cried. "Oh no! I can't believe I missed seeing Ginny this weekend. My alarm must not have gone off."


End file.
